Sunday Scribblings

She came home late.
She thought she was quiet enough. It was 3 a.m. She didn't want to disturb their sleep.
Just as she started tip toeing up the stairs to her bedroom, She heard the muffled grumbling, complaining.
He was upset. Again. He was always upset. He never had children of his own, what did he know of taking on an 18 year old step daughter. A young girl that any other parent would have called an ideal, sweet young lady. His yelling got louder. She overheard him screaming that he wanted her OUT. OUT of his house. "Get her an apartment! I don't care where she goes!".
Tina tried to sleep, but was too upset, despite the downstairs yelling becoming silent.
The next morning, her step father had already left for work as she was heading off to her new job.
Her mother stopped her and told her that she needed her new marriage to work and He wasn't happy that Tina was living with them. She told her daughter that after work they were going to look at the apartment complex up the street. The one Tina's sister and brother-in-law lived in.
Tina stoically left for work, without many words. What could she say? The feelings of betrayal, dismissal, abandonment. They weren't new to her. Tina protected her shattered heart from total breakage, by holding her head up high and going through the motions of cooperation.
That afternoon, an apartment was looked at. A deposit check signed. A tentative agreement on the table. Later that afternoon, Tina called her boyfriend. She still hadn't shed a tear, hadn't tried to reason with her debilitated mother. Her boyfriend was shocked and wondered How Tina could possibly live alone, when he knew she feared being home alone. He didn't understand anything. Why? Why, if there were never curfews set as to what time she Should be home, Why then, did 3 a.m. become such a big deal? He questioned the sanity of her mother. He questioned Tinas calmness. He wished he could leave work and run to her.
When her step father came home from work, her mother proudly and excitedly told him of her accomplishment in finding an apartment for Tina. He looked at her oddly and said.. "You did WHAT?!? I am NOT paying for her to have her own apartment! I was bluffing god-dammit! I can't believe you actually went out and found an apartment!"
At that moment Tina walked in the room and Stood in front of a man, that she could never manage to call dad. She looked him in the eyes and said evenly, "Well, this time, I am calling your bluff, I am leaving. It's apparent to me where my mothers loyalty lies."
She walked out into the snow filled sky, hearing their calls to her get further and further away. She deeply breathed in the freshly fallen snow, walked all the way to her sisters apartment, and Never looked back again.

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